Onondaga County GOP Chair Backs Long Against Gillibrand

Wendy Long, the conservative attorney who is the latest Republican to throw her hat into the ring against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, has picked up her first endorsement from Onondaga County Chairman Tom Dadey.

Long is in Syracuse today for the first stop of what will be an 11-county, five-day upstate “listening and leadership” tour.

In a statement announcing his formal support, Dadey called Long an “authentic conservative” who will give New Yorkers a “real choice” on a wide range of issues from taxes and job creation to upholding “middle-class values.”

Dadey noted Gillibrand’s recent most liberal ranking from The National Journal (she actually tied for first place with Oregon’s Jeff Merkley) and borrowed a phrase from a state GOP press release that slammed the junior senator for undergoing a “liberal makeover taking her from Annie Oakley to Jane Fonda.”

“I am confident that Wendy Long will give Republicans, Conservatives, Independents and like-minded Democrats a real choice, not a rubber stamp,” said Dadey. “We’re prepared to work hard to get her elected to the U.S. Senate, starting with helping her secure the nomination of our Republican Party, which meets next month in Rochester (on March 16).”

Long is going to have to battle Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos for the nomination. Maragos has been endorsed by the Nassau and Suffolk county GOPs, which account for almost 19 percent of the weighted vote at the convention, assuming all the committee members vote in a bloc, which, as past experience has demonstrated, is not a foregone conclusuion. (Onondaga County is at about 3 percent).